Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Mr Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what the budget allocations are for the new and existing rural stewardship schemes.

Mr Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what the budget allocation is for the Organic Aid Scheme for 2003-04.

Ross Finnie: The overall budget for agri-environment schemes is not allocated in advance to the individual schemes which are demand led.

  Details of the estimated amounts available for new and existing agri-environment schemes, including the Rural Stewardship Scheme, are available in Tables 8.1 and 8.3 of the Scottish Rural Development Plan, which can be found on the Scottish Executive Website at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/environment/srdpv3-g-16.asp.

Agriculture

Mr Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the budget allocations for organic aid schemes for 2003-06 are linked to the targets in the Organic Action Plan and, if so, how they are linked.

Ross Finnie: The budget allocations for agri-environment schemes (including the Organic Aid Scheme) are programmed in the Scottish Rural Development Plan for the period 2003-06. It will be for Scottish ministers to decide on the allocation of resources in light of the priorities established by the partnership agreement.

  Support is also provided to the organic sector through SEERADs' Processing and Marketing Grant Schemes (PMG) and the Marketing Development Scheme (MDS) Since May 2001, almost £4 million has been awarded to support the processing and marketing of organic produce through these schemes.

Autism

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take once it has analysed the responses from NHS boards and local authorities to its service audit on autistic spectrum disorder.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive will use the findings to inform implementation of the priorities in the Public Health Institute of Scotland's Autistic Spectrum Disorders Needs Assessment Report . These are improved assessment and diagnosis, better joint working, improved staff training and further research.

Forestry

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to the concerns of potential producers of short rotation coppice (SRC) in relation to the level of forestry commission grant available for SRC in Scotland being lower than that available in England for SRC when combined with funding under the Energy Crops Scheme.

Allan Wilson: Forestry is a devolved issue and the Scottish Forestry Grants Scheme (SFGS) supports priorities contained within the Executive's Scottish Forestry Strategy.

  The steering group that developed the SFGS included representatives from the Timber Growers Association (now called the Forestry and Timber Association), Scottish Landowners Federation, National Farmers Union for Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, Institute of Chartered Foresters, Scottish Crofting Foundation, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, Deer Commission for Scotland, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Scottish Environment Link, Forest Industries Development Council, Scottish Trade Union Congress, Forestry Commission and the Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department. This stakeholder group felt that, while energy crops and wood fuel were potential areas for future development, in view of the many competing priorities for the forestry grant budget, the short rotation coppice grant rates should not increase.

Forestry

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether potential producers of short rotation coppice (SRC) are at a competitive disadvantage compared with potential producers in England owing to the level of forestry commission grant available in Scotland for SRC being lower than that available in England for SRC when combined with funding under the Energy Crop Scheme.

Allan Wilson: Forestry is a devolved issue and the Scottish Forestry Grants Scheme (SFGS) supports priorities contained within the Executive's Scottish Forestry Strategy.

  The steering group that developed the SFGS felt that, while energy crops and wood fuel were potential areas for future development, in view of the many competing priorities for the forestry grant budget, the short rotation coppice grant rates should not increase.

  The energy crops scheme in England is entirely separate from the forestry grants system, although it is part of the England rural development plan. It is administered by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Due to the lack of past interest, no similar scheme exists in Scotland.

Forestry

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to separate support for short rotation coppice from the Scottish Forestry Grants Scheme and treat it as an arable crop.

Allan Wilson: We have no plans to separate support for short rotation coppice from the Scottish Forestry Grants Scheme and treat it as an arable crop.

Forestry

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-652 by Allan Wilson on 18 June 2003, whether it will undertake further consultation with other groups about the Scottish Forestry Grants Scheme in light of any companies expressing willingness to develop willow for co-firing since the original consultation.

Allan Wilson: The Scottish Forestry Grants Scheme customers representatives group is scheduled to meet on 28 August. This group includes representatives from the Scottish Crofting Foundation, the Scottish Landowners Federation, the Institute of Chartered Foresters, the Forestry and Timber Association, Scottish Environment Link, Scottish Natural Heritage, Highland Council, the National farmers Union of Scotland, the Scottish Agricultural Colleges, the Deer Commission for Scotland, along with the Scottish Executive's Environment and Rural Affairs Department and Forestry Commission Scotland. The level of interest shown by companies willing to develop willow for co-firing, since the original consultation, will be discussed at that meeting.

Justice

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children under 18 were sentenced to detention under sections 205 and 208 of the Criminal Procedures (Scotland) Act 1995; of these, how many have been detained for any length of time in a penal establishment rather than in secure accommodation and, of these, how many have been ordered to be detained in a penal establishment, in each year since 1999.

Cathy Jamieson: Sentencing data in the form requested are not collected.

  There were no cases of persons sentenced to detention without limit of time under section 205(2) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 in the years 1999 to 2002 where the Scottish ministers formally directed that those concerned should be detained in a penal establishment. In the same period, the Scottish ministers formally directed that one person sentenced to detention in 1999 and three persons sentenced to detention in 2001, under section 208 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, should be detained in a penal establishment.

Justice

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) minimum, (b) maximum and (c) average length of time taken to deal with cases referred to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) was, in each year since 1999.

Cathy Jamieson: The information you requested has been provided by SCCRC in the following table. Information is also provided about the numbers of cases received and concluded by the SCCRC each year.

  

 Year Cases Concluded
 Total Number 
  of Cases Received
 Total Number 
  of Cases Concluded
 Minimum
Time
 Maximum
Time
 Average
Time


 1999-2000
 130
 14
 4.9 months
 11.5 months
 6.8 months


 2000-01
 89
 62
 1.2 months
 22.5 months
 16.6 months


 2001-02
 88
 87
 3 months
 38.3 months
 19.7 months


 2002-03
 95
 117
 2.1 months
 46.2 months
 21.4 months



  The average time has been increasing because of a number of complex cases including those transferred to the Commission when it was set up on 1 April 1999. The Commission is currently working to conclude all cases received prior to 30 September 2002 by 31 March 2004. Thereafter, the Commission will aim to reduce the review period for all cases, from date of acceptance, to 12 months by 2006.

Museums

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the museums action plan will be published; why there has been a delay in publication of the plan, and whether there will be any further delay and, if so, what the reasons are for the position on this matter and what interim plan, advice or assistance will be given to museums.

Mr Frank McAveety: The Executive's response to the consultation exercise to assist the development of an action plan for Scotland's museums and galleries will be published shortly. It is necessary to set the response in the context of the planned review of the future governance of the arts, culture and creative industries proposed in A Partnership for a Better Scotland .

Museums

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what budget has been made available to each local authority education department to support visits to museums in each year since 1997.

Mr Frank McAveety: This is a matter for local authorities. The information is not held centrally.

Museums

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it will give to creating a designated museum scheme similar to the scheme operated by Her Majesty's Government.

Mr Frank McAveety: The Executive is not considering implementing a designation scheme similar to that operated by Resource in England. However, the Executive's response to the consultation exercise to assist the development of an Action Plan for Scotland's museums and galleries will be published shortly.

Non-Domestic Rates

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been allocated to each local authority to cover the payment of non-domestic rates on local authority properties in each year since 2000-01.

Tavish Scott: No specific provision is provided to local authorities for the payment of non-domestic rates. Local authorities meet the cost of non-domestic rates from the overall resources available to them.

Non-Domestic Rates

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the administrative cost of collecting non-domestic rates was in 2002-03 before any reductions for rate payment surcharges and penalties, broken down by local authority.

Tavish Scott: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-1101 on 3 July 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.. No further detail is held centrally.

People with Disabilities

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive which organisations have received funding as part of the European Year of Disabled People 2003; how much each organisation received, and for what purpose the money was allocated.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: Funding for projects to mark the European Year of Disabled People was available through the grant scheme run by the UK Government's Department for Work and Pensions. There were 22 successful projects in Scotland receiving £314,556. A full list is attached with details of the organisations, the awards and the purpose of the projects. The full list of projects across the UK can be accessed at www.disability.gov.uk.

  

 UK Government EYDP 
  Grant Scheme


 Successful 
  Scottish Projects


 Organisation National (Scotland 
  Wide)
 Project 
  Title
 Grant
 Description


 Birds of Paradise Theatre
Company Limited
 Working 
  Towards Equality
 £50,000
 Involve 
  disabled people as professional actors, stage crew in mainstream 
  theatre venues


 Deafblind Scotland
 From 
  Isolation To
Participation
 £49,950
 Enable 
  deaf-blind people to represent themselves in local, national 
  and specialist organisations


 Ownership Options in
Scotland
 Mainstreaming 
  Ownership Skills Training
 £31,200
 Training 
  package for people to assist disabled people in accessing 
  home ownership


 Local


 Ayrshire Independent
Living
Network
 South 
  Ayrshire Fun Day
 £10,000
 To 
  bring together all South Ayrshire disability voluntary organisations 
  - promote the work being carried out by them


 The State Hospital
 Calendar 
  of Patients'
Artwork
 £10,000
 To 
  produce a calendar featuring artwork of people with mental 
  health problems


 North Lanarkshire Arts
Association
 Community 
  Open Arts
Exhibition
 £10,000
 An 
  event involving disabled people through workshops and accessible 
  activities.


 Project Ability
 Building 
  Creative Bridges
 £9,744
 Exchange 
  programme for disabled artists from Glasgow and the Uists


 Kincardine & Deeside
Disability Action Group
 Aberdeenshire 
  Disability
Advisory Group
 £9,980
 Disability 
  advisory group that will work towards the removal of environmental, 
  attitudinal & organisational barriers


 Survivors' Poetry
Scotland
 Manifesto
 £10,000
 Workshops 
  to develop disabled people's visual arts and creative 
  writing skills.


 Inverclyde Council on
Disability
 Accessible 
  Infoclyde
 £9,862
 Produce 
  and launch an accessible website and best practice guide


 Glasgow Association for
Mental
Health
 Accessible 
  Information
Project 2003
 £8,815

 Improving 
  information which the organisation disseminates about mental 
  health issues


 Fife College of Further
and Higher Education
 Listen 
  and Learn
 £5,500
 Produce 
  video and CD ROM documenting disabled students experiences 
  of attending college


 Leonard Cheshire
Scotland
 Manifesto
 £9,700
 Access 
  to politics through art


 Inverness Access
Committee
 What 
  Barriers Face
Disabled People Seeking
Work
 £10,000
 Research 
  project on local reasons which prevent disabled people finding 
  work


 Computers and
Integration Ltd
 Able 
  to Communicate
 £10,000
 Good 
  practice guide


 West Dunbartonshire
Council Employment
Development for
People with Disabilities
 Community 
  Café/Social Firm
 £10,000
 Community 
  café to provide employment for people with learning 
  disabilities


 Volunteer Centre
Edinburgh
 The 
  Volunteer Personal
Development Project
 £10,000
 Providing 
  opportunities for disabled people to volunteer and supporting 
  these volunteers


 Barnardo's Scotland
 Our 
  Lives - Snakes and
Ladders
 £9,865

 Game 
  used to highlight issues of exclusion for young disabled 
  people


 Augment
 Mind 
  Yer Heid
 £9,940
 Website, 
  database and other information resources to raise awareness 
  of mental health issues


 Clackmannanshire Council
 ROAD 
  - Raising
Awareness of Disability
Operators
 £10,000

 Improving 
  access to public transport for disabled passengers


 Access to Employment
and
Training
 Aberdeen 
  Business
Awareness Project
Disability
 £10,000
 Raising 
  awareness of disability issues with employers


 Intowork
 Rights 
  and Participation:
A Scottish Perspective on
Disability and Access to
Employment
 £10,000
 Conference 
  on employment



  In Scotland, the Executive established a steering group to develop a strategic approach to the year and provided £200,000 to implement the steering group's workplan. There is no separate Scottish grant scheme to which organisations can apply for funding.

Road Safety

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made with the establishment of safety camera partnerships in respect of road safety; what areas have yet to establish such partnerships, and what funding has been committed to this project.

Cathy Jamieson: To date six out of eight Scottish safety camera partnerships have been approved in Dumfries and Galloway, Fife, Grampian, Lothian and Borders, Strathclyde and Tayside. It is expected that the remaining two partnerships, Central and Northern, will go live next year.

  By agreement with HM Treasury, the Scottish safety camera partnerships are resourced from hypothecated fine income.

Scottish Executive Contracts

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its contracts have been awarded to Scotland the Brand since April 2003 and what each such contract was worth.

Mr Jim Wallace: One contract has been awarded to Scotland the Brand since April 2003 with a value of £32,000.

Scottish Executive Contracts

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what process has been followed in the awarding of public contracts to Scotland the Brand and whether any other companies were invited to bid for these contracts.

Mr Jim Wallace: In mid May, Scotland the Brand was offered a contract to co-ordinate the showcasing of Scottish food and drink at the planned evening of Scottish culture this coming September in Barcelona. Given their specialist marketing skills and in light of the time available for planning this event, no other contractors were invited to bid on this particular occasion.

Special Educational Needs

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what resources it will make available to local authorities to comply with the presumption of mainstreaming legislation, in the light of the Auditor General for Scotland report, Moving to mainstream: The inclusion of pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools .

Euan Robson: The costs of educating children with additional support needs in mainstream schools are met mainly from local authorities' general expenditure. This includes £9 million for disability access in 2003-04, rising to £17 million from April 2004. A further £28.4 million in 2003-04 has been provided to support inclusion, and staff development and training. This rises to £33.4 million from April 2004.

Special Educational Needs

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to respond to the Auditor General for Scotland report, Moving to mainstream: The inclusion of pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools .

Euan Robson: The Auditor General's report contained 42 recommendations mainly for local authorities, the National Health Service and the Scottish Executive. An action plan is being drawn up to take these recommendations forward.

Special Educational Needs

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what resources will be made available to any special school whose pupil numbers decrease as a result of a presumption to mainstreaming legislation, in the light of the Auditor General for Scotland report, Moving to mainstream: The inclusion of pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools .

Euan Robson: The Executive has no plans to make resources available specifically to special schools whose pupil numbers decrease. I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-1447 for details of resources allocated to local authorities. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search ..

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Pensions

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Presiding Officer why the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body is unable to comply with its obligations regarding the payment of employer pension contributions to the personal pensions of MSPs' staff, as required by changes to Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority regulations in April 2001, if it uses the direct debit scheme.

Duncan McNeil (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body): : Under the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority an employer has obligations to maintain a record of payments made, send a record of payments made to the pension provider and pay the correct amount of contribution over by the 19th of the month following the pay run in which the contributions are collected. Under the direct debit scheme, the pension provider initiates when and how much to collect. The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body could not, therefore, guarantee that the correct amount was collected and paid over by the due date, as required under Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority regulations.

Pensions

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Presiding Officer what steps were taken, and by whom, to advise affected employees of the changes being made to the method of payment by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body regarding employer contributions to the personal pensions of MSPs' staff where such payments were being made under the direct debit scheme.

Duncan McNeil (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body): : The change in the method of payment was a procedural change between the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body and the pension providers. Since none of the pension providers raised any objections to the change or envisaged that any problems would be encountered, it was not deemed necessary to advise staff.

Pensions

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Presiding Officer what consultation was held with pension providers prior to the decision of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body to withdraw from the direct debit scheme in relation to the payment of employer contributions to the personal pensions of MSPs' staff and what the outcome of such any such consultation was.

Duncan McNeil (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body): : The pension providers were notified in writing six weeks prior to the withdrawal of the direct debit system. At the same time they were advised that future payments would be made by cheque or by BACS if the pension provider advised the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body of the relevant bank details. The outcome of this was that many of the providers contacted the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body to advise of their preferred method of payment. A few of the providers did not make contact, therefore, in accordance with the correspondence sent to them, regular monthly cheques were issued as a matter of course.

Pensions

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will reinstate the use of the direct debit scheme for the payment of employer contributions to the personal pensions of MSPs' staff and what the reasons are for the position on this matter.

Duncan McNeil (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body): : Under the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority rules an employer has an obligation to pay the correct amount of contribution over by the 19th of the month following the pay run in which the contributions are collected. Experience has shown that the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body cannot guarantee this under the direct debit system. As a result and to ensure that the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body continues to meet its obligations under the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority rules, there are no plans to reinstate the direct debit scheme.